Week in Focus: Kalamazoo Gazette photographers cover artist, wrestling and a winter morning at the zoo

KALAMAZOO, MI -- Kalamazoo Gazette photographers looked back over
work from the past week to select some of their favorite and most
meaningful photos to write about. Here are their thoughts on making this
week's best-of collection.

Mark Bugnaski, multimedia specialist

On Artist Brendan Barnes: Illness can strike any one of us, at any time, and for almost an infinite number of reasons. After an illness happens, we might gather new realizations about ourselves as we strive to recover. For local artist Brendan Barnes, illness stuck his mind, and his journey of healing has brought him closer to his faith and given renewed purpose to his artwork. Barnes' painting now emphasizes and expresses the inner world of his emotions -- they show the process of his struggle. I admire and respect Barnes for sharing his story. When illness strikes the mind, a victim may be affected by a stigma and Barnes' story brings attention to an issue -- his story helps to form greater understanding.

Junfu Han, multimedia specialist intern

On a morning at Binder Park Zoo: I consider myself lucky for having the chance on Wednesday to go to the zoo to visit all the animals. And also for the first time in my life, I got a chance to look down at a giraffe. The Savannah Barn was definitely the best place to be in the zoo in winter. It's as big as a football field, and it's heated entirely.

On wrestling: Wrestling is one of my favorite high school sports to photograph. I really enjoy the excitement and the intenseness of the matches.

On Early Music in the Cathedral: I never thought that I could have a chance to photograph musicians playing in a cathedral. As a fan of architecture and music, I loved every moment of my Tuesday night. I photographed the musicians setting up and tuning their instruments, and rehearsing. At the same time, in order not to make my camera shutter sound annoying to anyone, I tried to click fewer shots but still well-composed with the frame, the subjects and the lighting. Of course, the lighting was most challenging part. But I tried to hold my camera steady.

Chuck Miller, multimedia specialist intern

On Art Hop: Got to experience my first Art Hop in Kalamazoo by getting the chance to cover it. Once again, I love seeing the city get involved with its residents in creative ways, and doing this every month is awesome. Though it wasn't too busy, it didn't stop artists from showing their work to all who came out and to see it.

On Fiesta By Blanca: I've been to the People's Food Co-Op once before to cover a politician. But this time around, I got to be around the food. In the back of the Food Co-Op is the Can-Do Kitchen, where locals come and make their own food to sell at the store. I covered Blanca Cordoza who makes her own salsa. It was a lot of fun and smelled awesome. She let me sample some of her salsa and she definitely knows what she is doing.

On fatal police shooting: I had my biggest breaking news piece so far in my internship by getting some photos from the shooting that occurred last week involving a Kalamazoo officer and a sex assault suspect. I couldn't get much from where I was allowed to stand but it was pretty crazy seeing so many cops at the scene of crime, most I've been around thus far in my short career. It was absolutely freezing standing out there for a couple hours, but this is the life I've chosen and these are the moments that come with it.

On Portage City Council meeting: I covered the Portage City Council meeting, where the search began to replace Portage City Manager Maurice Evans who announced this week that he will retire. Not much happened at the meeting and it was difficult getting a shot that could help sum up the moment. I was in the middle of editing the photos I took when the meeting was about to end so I decided to go back in and try for a better shot, luckily I got one that showed some joy in his face. It reminded me not to give up on looking for a better moment.